wni 20120829.txt

I've only been on crutches once, but I hated it. 

I broke my foot at Marine Combat Training in 2000 and had to stay on crutches for 6 weeks. There have been many others of you who have had more nagging or serious injuries, and have had to deal with crutches much longer. 

Adam Faughn, minister at the Lebanon Road Church of Christ in Nashville, observed something about crutches in a post recently, but not literal ones, spiritual crutches. 

He tells the story of his six year old daughter who still sucks her thumb. It drives him crazy. After repeated attempts to stop it, they've realized that it was bad habit that needed to be broken. 

He writes:

> "...At 2:38 this morning, she was crying. I got out of bed and went to her room. She told me that she had had a bad dream and it had scared her. I consoled her and lay beside her for a moment. Immediately, with her father nearby, she put her thumb back in her mouth…and went right back to sleep.

> I lay there for a couple of more moments realizing how much like me that is."

No, I don’t suck my thumb, and hopefully neither do you, but how often, knowing that our heavenly Father is nearby, do I look for some “both-and” solution to get through life?

How often does God try to tell me about the abundant life that I can have if I will just live for Him fully, and I still live with some sort of crutch, and stumble through life?

God may say things like this to you: 

+ “I gave you a wonderful wife. Why do you even look at other women?”

+ “Can you not remember the heartache that alcohol has plagued people with, and you still ‘need’ it to get through a rough day?”

+ “What ‘thing’ or 'object' is it that you are going to buy that can do for you what I can?”

…and yet we keep sucking our thumbs.

We must realize that we don’t need any crutch when we have our Father. He is near, and He brings us all we need.

Do you have that trust in God tonight, or do you rely on a crutch? Psalm 18.2 says, "The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge." Can you say that? 

Tonight, we can pray for you, we can baptize you to become a Child of God this evening. Don't wait. Come while we stand and sing.